Using mobile phone on the plane

Yes. This might be happening. You will not be asked to switch off your mobile phones when you are on the plane next time. Is that good news to you? It does not affect me that much since I am not on my mobile that often, even to text-message.

But for travelers who need to make urgent calls especially to cancel business meetings or to establish timely important contacts, this might be good news. A lower-power base station, that communicates with passengers' own handsets, will be installed on an airplane The base station will then route phone traffic to a satellite which is connected to mobile networks on the ground. Naturally, expect higher phone call rates in the air compared to the ground, and calls will be billed through passengers' mobile networks just like how billings are done on ground.